Seetha Kalyanam Malayalam Movie
The big question is how does 'My Best Friend's Wedding' look like, in a Brahmin household? It looks like 'Seetha Kalyanam', with classical music blaring in the background, plenty of laddus and jilebis being served around and marigold garlands adorning every nook and corner of the screen.
The story remains the same. Nimisha (Jyothika) realizes all on a sudden one day, that she had been long in love with Sreeni (Jayaram). Her realization though, couldn't have come along at a worse time, since she has come all the way from Bangalore to see Sreeni getting married to Abhirami (Geethu). Abhi, on the other hand has her own personal battles to deal with, since she had always been in love with Ambi (Indrajith).
So the film is all about the big, fat wedding, if you may call it that. Nimisha is seen to be generally having a good time around, until the moment of 'enlightenment'. Post enlightenment however, she seems to be some psycho who is after Sreeni, clinging on to his back, and making him realize that perhaps he is in love with her as well. Sreeni, on the other hand seems quite unsure about his feelings for her, and even after the film has ended, one need to look around real hard to see if the man had any feelings for her at all.
Emotionally, it's a muddle that 'Seetha Kalyanam' offers. As a romantic comedy, there is nothing much that we feel about the film. Perhaps the dawdling narrative is the culprit here, and the sympathy that is likely to build up for the film's female protagonist seems too much orchestrated after a while.
'Seetha Kalyanam' revolves around Nimisha, and her psychotic nature cannot be ignored in a hurry. She doesn't take a 'No' for an answer; she never actually gives Sreeni some time to analyze things for himself. She almost always suggests that she is ready to withdraw from the scene, but never means to do so either. Finally, when she does make a dramatic exit, she sees to it that Sreeni has been pushed to a corner, with no chances whatsoever to move away.
Nimisha, as much as she comes across as a diehard romantic, looks like a schemer at heart, with her plans in life plotted right in front of her. Sreeni walks into her life, and the pleasant girl that she is, slowly turns out be a Madonna in Body of Evidence, though she displays none of the malice, none of the spite that Rebecca displays. Instead, she weeps her way into Sreeni's heart, and the man succumbs before her mean spirited plans. The only excuse perhaps for Nimisha is well, that she is in love.
Jyothika as Nimisha is believable; she looks wonderfully good. There is nobody else in the film, who is expected to have much of a say, and that sadly includes Jayaram as well. His character is so one-dimensional, that even if he vanishes from the scene, nobody would really care. Except Nimisha ofcourse.
Three men deserve to be singled out of this jumble, Rajiv Ravi, for his excellent cinematography that makes the entire film so easy on the eyes; Sreenivasan for his almost out of the world music and Sharath for his outstanding background score that together almost mask the inadequacies of the script.
They say marriages are made in heaven. This one was made in Hollywood.
